Car & Bike Need Help On Deciding A Car

A

arzandaru

Disciple
First a background: Time for an upgrade from my 14+ year old M800 to a new car. It was a good upgrade from a guy who used to sit in rear seat of the now prehistoric fiat. It served me well with occasional repairs for the last 11years which have now become frequent. It now rattles and has lost even it’s stability. It’s no more fun to drive even though the engine is still very strong. It’s space is just enough when I pull the seat all the way back as I am 6.1 in height. You see, I’ve never sat in a BIG car except my friends OHC and my god, it was spacy and fast. Wish I could afford it.

Present: Finally my dad has agreed to part with it but have to still figure out the big question, WHICH CAR? . Keeping in mind with my small budget I have short listed down to two models. It would be either a new Alto or a used Esteem. I know it’s not fair to compare two cars from a different segment but you will understand as you read on. I am only considering cars from the Maruti stable now because of their low cost maintainance\spares and availability compared to others. I’ve ruled out the Wagon R not just because of it’s looks but also because the body role/ stability at high speeds and safety issues.

The following would be my requirements/usage:
i) The car would be driven by me and my dad (50:50). He’s 64.
ii) We would be keeping it for another 10-14 years.
iii) Usage would be mostly in Mumbai city with a few night drives by me on weekends and occasional highway driving max to three times a year. Each trip would be not more than 200km (Pune/Gujrat) each way.
iv) Usage will be about 200-250km max in a month on an average. (My M800 has done 52,000 in 14 years and had bought it at 14,000km)
v) About half the driving will be done while four people sitting inside.

I also have a few questions which would be great if anyone can answer…

Q1 Does the alto have same space as the M800?
Q2 Will it be a wise decision to go in for a Alto with LPG fitted considering the low usage of the car?
Q3 Is it safe to install an LPG tank in a small car, I’ve heard that it could blow up incase another car bumps in it from behind at a good speed. Is that true?
Q4 Is the difference between maintanice / spares cost between these two cars a lot?
Q5 Is it the right time to go in for a new car when Maruti is expected to lower the price of the cars when nano hits the roads. I also heard they are coming up with A-Start & Splash. I don’t know when and I have no idea about the specs.

Right now I am more tilted towards an used Esteem as I think Alto won’t be much of an upgrade Vs my Dad who thinks alto would be cheaper to run and easy to park. We will be visiting the dealer on the coming weekends.

Require inputs from you guys.

Thanks in advance.
 
First question... whats your budget? Without a fixed budget and preferences, people will be recommending all kinds of silly cars :p. Frankly an Alto is way too small. Atleast look at a Santro/Spark/i10/Swift etc.
 
Chaos said:
First question... whats your budget? Without a fixed budget and preferences, people will be recommending all kinds of silly cars :p. Frankly an Alto is way too small. Atleast look at a Santro/Spark/i10/Swift etc.
Click to expand...

+1... Or the Skoda Fabia if you can afford it..
 
between the alto and the 800, I'd choose the 800 any day. The esteeem back seat is horrible.Ask your dad to sit there for a long drive. he will NOT want to sit there again.

If you can go tata , try the Indica Xeta. Though people might all it a taxi and such, there is nothing that fills your requirements better

1-Its large. Can seat 5 comfortably

2-rear seat comfort the best there is

3- Very stable at high speeds.I hit 3 digit speeds on it the first day i drove it. On the other hand , I found the WR very nervous at high speeds

4-comes with a factory fit LPG kit

5-cheap, and you can get upto 30k discounts, and even more next week as the new Indica is rumoured to be launched this weekend.

6-cheap to service. Tata maintence costs are on par with maruti, and as widespread. Quality of service might not be as high though.

I dont mind if you dont want it, just give it a chance before you say no to it. Take your dad with you for a TD , and take turns sitting in the back seat. The back seat of the indica is the best in any sub 5 lakh car.

Even I considered buying a Wagon R duo/Swift D, but didnt buy the former because of the lack of space, stability and torque, and the latter because of the waiting period. I'm an indica fanboi now :D

another low budget alternative is the spark :)

EDIT: in case you're planning to go the second hand route, like the others have said, try the zen. Its a vastly better car
 
As greenhorn pointed, an Indica Xeta is not a bad option either. Though it makes more sense to buy the more reliable diesel.
 
I recommend the Spark, it's much easier for elderly people to sit in due to the door opening wide and the seats being at the right height. The Wagon R also seats well, but the doors don't open as wide, causing seniors to wiggle their way in and out. My parents have been gifted my old Matiz, and it works well enough for them. It's also a cinch to park and visibility is great as long as one gets the hang of the far side A-pillar, which is slightly challenging at first.

Barring accidents, it's easy to maintain, and fairly efficient. I don't know about 10 years though, the Mumbai weather eats through most cars I've seen. Mine is 8 years old already and no major problems. She needs a few visits to the doc (garage) once a while, but for low mileage runs (200km a month tops) she runs well.

As a bonus, the Spark is pretty cheap now, just a little more than an Alto. The engine is also upgraded from the Matiz, and (IMO) it's a great-looking car. Interior space used to be very generous with the Matiz (at the expense of boot space - I don't know if you can fit a cylinder in there), I think the Spark will be similar.

For low-mileage cars, Petrol is the way to go. You ameliorate the higher fuel cost with lower maintenance and avoiding the hassle/cost of modification.
 
and dont forget the 3 year free service package they are offering :)

my only doubt is whether the spark will end up like the matiz. Chevrolet is in troubled waters internationally, and they have been pricing the spark lower and lower. But still a very competent car
 
A valid fear. But the good thing about our country is that repair is never usually a problem. We still get the Matiz serviced regularly and efficiently, the tools that garage has are good enough to deal with those kind of cars.

In the west, you'd be dead trying to get cheap repairs, which is why a lot them DIY the small repair jobs.

If that is a concern however, the Marutis would be a good choice. The Esteem is not suited for elderly people at all, it's too low. Getting in and out of the car is a pretty big issue. The Wagon R seems to be the closest to your requirements.
 
he is saying he has low budget then how can u guys recommend skoda fabia(which starts ard 5lakhs) and esteem is a very good car I have never felt any problem at the backseat as mentioned by greenhorn the size of also is same as 800.If ur budget is ard 3 to 4 lakhs u can get a used old honda city or lancer also both r superb cars.Instead of getting small cars like spark or wagon r
 
I would suggest the Logan Petrol. the base model costs about 4.2L ex-showroom and is a sensible option...

The rear space is as big as a Corolla's... 3 adults can sit comfortably at the rear....Good value for money. Low fuel consumption too.

Don't bother with Gas fittings... At just 250kms a month drive, you can stick to petrol surely...
 
vij said:
I would suggest the Logan Petrol. the base model costs about 4.2L ex-showroom and is a sensible option...
The rear space is as big as a Corolla's... 3 adults can sit comfortably at the rear....Good value for money. Low fuel consumption too.
Don't bother with Gas fittings... At just 250kms a month drive, you can stick to petrol surely...
Click to expand...

Don't think it will fit in his budget and the base model is a bit too spartan. No doubt lots of space inside though and a decent ride.

Skoda Fabia... I just laugh at the car. A 69bhp engine on a body bigger than a swift and charging the moon for it is so very lame.
 
Thanks for all your input guys. Checked out a few cars this weekend and to my surprise I could not fit in to the two cars I had short listed. Yup, even the esteem, even my dad had to get in and out with great difficultly and the rear headroom is so low my head was touching it.
Why do they call it a big car???

I did test drive the Wagon R. The car had space but stability and safety was a serious concern as I thought. I saw that the rear seats were very narrow and straight. So uncomfortable I could not sit in even for a minute. When I applied the breaks just a little hard the sales lady sitting behind flew to my seat in front of her with a scream and almost broke her nose. My M800 never had that problem. Also the performance was nothing to speak about. The gears were very had to change and the engine made a huge noise over 3000rpm with poor acceleration. I was sure I had screwed up demo car on which may people had tried their hands with more than 10000km on it. That could be acceptable, what was not to me that the shining chrome on the gear know and hand break had come out already. It made me realize that not the best of the materials were used to build this car. Wasn’t much impressed with the plastic dashboard too. That’s was just my opinion, no offence to Wagon R users.

Now finally we both have settled on the Santro. The only small car, big enough for me.
Since it a little out of budget will be looking for a used one.

My question to you guys is………I know the Santro comes in normal, Zip Drive, Zing & Erlx variants. (From what I have seen on road). Please let me know the differences between them and which one is supposed to be the best. Also any pointers you may have which I should look out for while buying a used Santro.

Thanks again.
 
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